Q&A | Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

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How and when did you begin writing fiction?

I wrote my first short story in high school. When it got published in the school magazine, I didn't know how, or when, but knew I would someday be a 'real' writer.

How did Daughters of the Stone come to being?

It evolved over a long period of time for many reasons. One important reason was the absence of authentic stories about Afro-Puerto Ricans in American literature. I wanted to tell our stories, our way. When I started, I thought I was going to write memoir. Very soon it became evident that I would need the freedom of fiction to include the many stories that had not been told. It wasn't about me. It was about a whole group of people who had been erased from our national dialogue.

There are five generations of women in this Afro-Puerto-Rican novel. Who was your favorite to write - Fela, Mate, Concha, Elena, or Carisa?

There is no one favorite. I love each for different reasons. I love Fela because she is so self-contained and self-directed regardless of what is happening around her. I love Mati because of her strength and her steely belief in her way of knowing the world. When Concha rejects tradition in favor of modernity, she is left hanging in a void and has to fight to come back to the world. Elena is a 20th century woman/pioneer who seeks newer pastures for herself and her children in a world which challenges everything she believes in. Carisa is driven by her creative force and by the voices of the ancestors who guide her in her search for self-actualization. When she finds no support in the world she has come to think of as home, she finds the only way to move forward is to go back.

This novel is clearly a story about women. Were you conscious of what themes you wanted to explore before you began writing? If so, what theme would you like the readers to grasp the most?

I don't map out my novels. I go where my characters take me. In Daughters of the Stone, I wanted to explore how the past acts as a foundation for supporting the present and building towards the future. I also wanted to explore art, and especially storytelling, as healing and guiding mechanisms in our society.

How do you describe the symbolism behind the stone?

I let the reader find her/his own best answers to this one. It could represent ancestral knowledge or history or strength or tradition or endurance or continuity or all of these. I hope each reader finds the significance that best touches that individual's personal journey.

Explain the importance of embroidery at the beginning of the novel?

All enslaved workers were valued not by their individuality but by the worth of their labor. On one level, the women were valuable commodities because they added to their mistress's income and reputation. But on a much deeper level, the women explore their creativity and feed their aesthetic nature becoming more than just workers, but artists in their own right. It gives them a stamp of individuality, a definition of self within a system that was dehumanizing to the point of erasure.

How have your roots played a role in telling the story of Daughters of the Stone?

Being a daughter of very strong Afro-Puerto Rican rural women, I could never understand the stereotype of the submissive, defeated woman who had no options and no power. I was surrounded by monumentally powerful and talented women who never got a chance to showcase their potential outside their homes and their communities. I got a good taste of it as a child in my South Bronx community. When I was sent to Puerto Rico during my formative years, ties to the past were solidified and I had a better understanding of where I came from and what gifts had been bequeathed to me. Those women who came before me didn't have the option of sharing their stories in public, but thanks to their sacrifices, I could, and I do share the stories with a much broader audience. Writing gave me a vehicle for bringing readers into the world I grew up in.

How does community play an important role in Daughters of the Stone?

In a world where families are suddenly and inexplicably separated, where life and death can come at any time, the community holds continuity and safety. Fela loses her mother but gains Tia Josefa. When Concha is unable to function under the weight of her sense of guilt and loss, her daughter Elena leans on the wisdom and traditions learned from her grandmother Mati, to get them all through difficult times. Carisa finds a whole circle of old women to guide her back into the stories of the past which give her the foundation for seeking out the future. Later, Maria Luisa guides Carisa in her quest for self-identity. In times of greatest need, the community steps in when needed.

How does religious spirituality connect to Afro-Puerto-Rican culture in the novel?

The enslaved community has no material wealth, not even having ownership of their own bodies. They can lose their children, their homes, their very lives. They often lose their physical abilities which is the measure of their only value in their masters' eyes. But their spiritual beliefs and inherent gifts sustain them. They cling to that which cannot be taken away and that gives them the strength to overcome all that they have lost. Spirituality and memory are the bedrock of their existence. Storytelling is the conduit for passing on those qualities that will allow them to endure.

The elements of magical realism in the novel are perfectly infused in reality? Was that a conscious idea? If so, why?

When physical reality becomes unbearable, then an alternative is needed. My characters don't escape from objective reality, they simply exist in a more complex worldview than is the norm in the world they are forced to inhabit. Their perception of the world goes beyond that of the Western imaginary. Whether you call it magic or mysticism or religion or spirituality, it is that which binds the characters and allows for their survival in spite of the violence of their lives.

What has Daughters of the Stone taught you about yourself and writing?

I have come to know that what I used to call being blocked, is actually a very deep and active period of story development. I am often up at 3 or 4am for no particular reason other than journaling, listening to the monologue of my mind. My writing begins with dreaming, journaling and meditation. The seeds for my next narrative are germinating long before the actual writing of the novel. I now recognize when the book begins to take on its internal life. As the work begins to take shape in my journal notes, I begin to have a more conscious intent, and only then do I turn to the computer. At this point, I am guided by my characters and the world they inhabit. The short answer to your question is, I have learned to trust my creative voice and my intuition.

What advice do you have to give to budding writers?

Read, read, read. Read everything and pay attention. What works for you? What doesn't? Decide which writers you love and learn from what they put on paper. Equally important, find those you don't love and learn what not to do.

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About

Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. She is a product of the Puerto Rican communities on the island and in the South Bronx. As a child she was sent to live with her grandparents in Puerto Rico where she was introduced to the culture of rural Puerto Rico, including the storytelling that came naturally to the women in her family, especially the older women. Much of her work is based on her experiences during this time. Her short stories appear in anthologies and literary magazines such as Breaking Ground: Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980-2012, Growing Up Girl, Afro-Hispanic Review, Pleaides, Latino Book Review, Label Me Latina/o, and Kweli Journal. Dahlma’s second novel, A Woman of Endurance will be released by Amistad in Spring 2022 in both English and Spanish.

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